US 13 original south terminus in Cape Charles VA

[usends]

This is a fork from a topic which was originally discussed in posts #288-291 in this thread (bolds mine).

VA 184 is now posted at its western end point in Cape Charles.

^ The original south terminus of US 13 (1926-1943)

That turns out not be completely accurate...

From the CTB:
1934-09:
Moved by Mr. Rawls, seconded by Mr. Wysor, that the State take over for
construction purposes a 40 ft. width of roadway through Cape Charles on
Randolph Street to Fig. Street; on Figg Street to Mason Avenue; from
Mason Avenue to Bayview Avenue, and along Bayview Avenue and the water
front to the dock, a distance of 1.52 miles. Motion carried.

My commentary:

The 1932 and 1935 Northampton County maps do not have a Cape Charles inset but there is a visible difference between the '35 and '36 main maps.  The main map of '35 suggests it was signed to the end of Mason.  However, the ferry landing was south off Mason roughly across from Pine St.  1.52 miles puts the previous endpoint 1/3 of a mile east of the Figg/Randolph jct.  It is possible US 13 was signed to the ferry but not maintained by the state within Cape Charles boundaries.  This sort of thing did happen in the early days of Virginia.

All primary routes through incorporated towns were removed from state highway maintenance in 1929 after a legal interpretation involving Ashland and its desire to put certain signs up along a primary route that the CTB didn't want. I would be surprised if routes were actually deposted within incorporated towns. In 1930 the General Assembly passed a law outlining what needed to happen for a town to have their primary routes put back in the state highway maintenance system.  Most towns complied and had their routes restored to the system in 1930-31.  Cape Charles was not among them.  I believe the 1934 action was doing this.  But I don't believe the curl northward as indicated on the 1936 county map was part of the original primary route, so US 13's defined endpoint definitely changed. 

The real question is where was the endpoint from 1926-34. 

After some searching, I actually found it!  This is from the Northampton Times, 10/4/1934, which shows that US 13 had a different routing prior to Sept 1934 - Randolph west to Pine south:

1/3rd mile east of Fig would've been roughly where the city boundary was, which would make sense in light of what Mike said above about primary routes being removed from incorporated cities in 1929.

So, what about this timeline?
1926-1929: US 13 terminated at the then-current ferry dock (south off Mason and Pine).
1929-1934: US 13 technically terminated on Randolph at the city limit (but in reality was probably still signed to the above ferry dock).
1934-1943: US 13 terminated at "the Old Peninsula Ferry Docks" (i.e. same location where VA 184 ends now).

But why would they extend US 13 to a defunct ferry terminal?  I suspect that description was used simply because that location would've been familiar locally.  However by 1934 the old dock may have been used for something else, and it may have been military-related: a 1948 topo map has a label for "Radio Masts" at that location.  1952 aerial still seems to show the old dock itself, but 1957 aerial shows only the pilings.  A 1956 topo no longer has any label there, and Pine was no longer shown extending north of Washington (however that map clearly illustrated the Washington/Pine terminus, although by then it was Alt. US 13, because mainline US 13 had been rerouted to the Kiptopeke ferry).

[The Ghostbuster]

Was the VA 184 designation commissioned immediately after US 13 was rerouted to no longer serve Cape Charles?

[Mapmikey]

But why would they extend US 13 to a defunct ferry terminal?

The ferry terminal had only very recently stopped being used.  So, it is possible that town officials thought it might be resurrected.  In fact, another ferry was attempted to be resurrected in 1937 from there to Bay Tree Landing which I believe is in York County.

It is also plausible that the town just wanted to have a state highway through the town.  Plenty of Virginia examples of that.

What's more puzzling is that when US 13 was extended over the ferry in 1943, the portion west of the landing in Cape Charles was not redesignated as something else, like 13Y.  I can't find a Northampton County map between 1943-51 to confirm this, but there is a 1950 article that still refers to the road along the beach as route 13.

There are two 13Y references in the paper but both are referring to where 13 and 13 ALT met at Bayview, which did have a Y setup originally.

This 1/4/51 article announces the renumbering of US 13 as US 13 ALT but says nothing about whether it continues to the old Peninsula Ferry dock.  However the stated 4 miles is further than the distance to the endpoint at the PF dock - https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=NT19510104.1.1&srpos=5&e=01-01-1942-01-12-1960--en-20--1--txt-txIN-%2213+alternate%22--------Northampton+%28VA%29

Was the VA 184 designation commissioned immediately after US 13 was rerouted to no longer serve Cape Charles?

No.  US 13 was redesignated as US 13 ALT in January 1951, then became VA 184 in May 1957.

[Mapmikey]

I have confirmed that there was no earlier routing of US 13 in Cape Charles.  This is from Nov 7, 1924: